Kiruna Church ( sv, Kiruna kyrka) is a

church building A church, church building or church house is a building used for Christian worship services and other Christian religious activities. The earliest identified Christian church is a house church founded between 233 and 256. From the 11th thro ...

Kiruna (; se, Giron ; fi, Kiiruna ) is the northernmost Stad (Sweden), city in Sweden, situated in the province of Lapland, Sweden, Lapland. It had 17,002 inhabitants in 2016 and is the seat of Kiruna Municipality (population: 23,167 in 2016) in Norr ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

, and is one of Sweden's largest wooden buildings. The church exterior is built in a

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

style, while the altar is in

Art Nouveau Art Nouveau (; ) is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. The style is known by different names in different languages: in German, in Italian, in Catalan, and also known as the Modern ...

. In 2001, Kiruna Church was voted the most popular pre-1950 building in Sweden, in a country-wide poll conducted by the Swedish Travelling Exhibitions, a government agency connected to the Ministry of Culture.Kiruna kyrka firar 100 år hela året
''

Norrländska Socialdemokraten ''Norrländska Socialdemokraten'' (''NSD'') (Swedish: ''The Norrland Social Democrat'') is a daily regional newspaper published in Norrbotten County, Sweden. History and profile As of the division of the Swedish Social Democratic Workers' Part ...

'' 25 May 2012, retrieved 11 August 2013 It is considered to be "the Shrine of the Nomadic people." Because of the expansion of the Kiruna Mine the church is slated to be moved a location adjacent to the cemetery on in 2025 or 2026.

History

The church was built between 1909 and 1912, and consecrated by Bishop

Olof Bergqvist Olof Bergqvist (24 September 1862 – 20 October 1940) was a Swedish bishop. He was the first bishop in the Diocese of Luleå, serving in that office from 1904 to 1937.

on 8 December 1912. Since 1913, the church is included in the Jukkasjärvi parish in the

diocese of Luleå The diocese of Luleå ( sv, Luleå stift) is a Swedish diocese of the Church of Sweden. List of Bishops *Olof Bergqvist : 1904~1937 *Bengt Jonzon : 1937~1956 *Ivar Hylander : 1956~1966 * Stig Hellsten : 1966~1980 *Olaus Brännström : 1980~198 ...

Gustaf Wickman Gustav, Gustaf or Gustave may refer to: *Gustav (name), a male given name of Old Swedish origin Art, entertainment, and media * ''Primeval'' (film), a 2007 American horror film * ''Gustav'' (film series), a Hungarian series of animated short cart ...

was the church's architect and the famous altarpiece is a work of

Prince Eugen, Duke of Närke Prince Eugen Napoleon Nicolaus of Sweden and Norway, Duke of Närke (1 August 1865 – 17 August 1947) was a Swedish painter, art collector, and patron of artists. Background Prince Eugen was born at Drottningholm Palace as the fourth and ...

References

External links

Jukkasjärvi Parish
Kiruna 20th-century Church of Sweden church buildings Churches in Norrbotten County Art Nouveau church buildings in Sweden Churches completed in 1912 Churches in the Diocese of Luleå {{sweden-church-stub